sleeveless

English

Alternative forms

• sleaveless

Etymology

From Middle English slevelees, sleveles, from Old English slīeflēas (“sleeveless”), equivalent to sleeve +‎ -less.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsliːvlɪs/

• Audio (Southern England):

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• Audio (US):

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Adjective

sleeveless (not comparable)

1. (clothing) Of a garment, having no sleeves.
   • 1965, Attila Zohar, Kings Cross Black Magic, Sydney: Horwitz Publications, page 25:

     She wore a short surcoat of scarlet, cut low around the shoulders, sleeveless, reaching just below her hips, like the tabards worn by medieval heralds. Over it she wore a laced-edged cotta.

2. (obsolete) Wanting a cover, pretext, or palliation; unreasonable; profitless; useless.

   a sleeveless errand

   • c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iv], line 8:

     might send that Greekish / whore-masterly villain with the sleeve back to the / dissembling luxurious drab of a sleeveless errand.

   • 1738-1741, William Warburton, The Divine Legation of Moses Demonstrated

     The vexation of a sleeveless errand.

Derived terms

• sleevelessly
• sleevelessness

Translations

of a garment, having no sleeves

• Armenian: անթեւ (hy) (antʻew)
• Belarusian: безрука́ўны (bjezrukáwny)
• Bulgarian: безръкавен (bezrǎkaven), без ръкави (bez rǎkavi)
• Catalan: sense mànigues
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 冇袖 (mou⁵ zau⁶)

  Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 無袖 / 无袖 (zh) (wú xiù)

• Dutch: mouwloos (nl)
• Finnish: hihaton (fi)
• French: sans manches
• German: ärmellos (de)
• Greek: αμάνικος (el) (amánikos)
• Hungarian: ujjatlan (hu)
• Ingrian: hiatoin
• Irish: gan mhuinchillí
• Italian: senza maniche
• Korean: 민소매 (ko) (minsomae), 나시 (nasi)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: ermeløs

  Nynorsk: ermelaus

• Old English: slīeflēas
• Persian: رکابی (fa) (rekâbi)
• Russian: безрука́вный (ru) (bezrukávnyj)
• Spanish: sin mangas
• Swedish: ärmlös (sv)
• Ukrainian: безрука́вний (uk) (bezrukávnyj), безрука́вий (uk) (bezrukávyj)
• Welsh: dilewys